


A Day Of Scarlet

by SivValkyrie



Category: 7 Days to Die (Video Game), Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 02:53:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20650013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SivValkyrie/pseuds/SivValkyrie
Summary: People are suddenly going rabid. Is this the end of the world? The Universe Family thinks it might be, but they’re optimistic about how this will unravel anyway. Human AU based on 7 Days To Die.A reupload of something I posted and deleted a couple of years ago!





	A Day Of Scarlet

The sound of foam flip flops slapping against tile flooring woke Dr. Maheswaran from the routine nightmare of paperwork. The hum of dim lights accompanied the soft pattering, almost lulling her back into her paperwork. When she looked up from her desk to see Steven, she noticed he was out of breath and crying. Though she was already concerned for his wellbeing, the more terrifying thing was her daughter.

Connie Maheswaran laid limp in his arms, foam bubbling out of her mouth. Her eyes, bloodshot and with irises tinted red, stared up at the ceiling at nothing. Her dark flesh was marred with fingernail shaped scratches, and blood trickled from each one.

“I don’t know what happened! We were playing and she started screaming!”

Priyanka dropped her coffee and scooped up Connie, who was a lot heavier than she remembered. “Geez, what do your aunts feed you, protein powder? You held her up like- that doesn’t matter. What are her symptoms?”

“Sh-she keeps moaning and rolling around on the floor! Is she having a seizure?”

Ignoring the boy, Priyanka ran off to one of the vacant emergency rooms and set Connie on the bed. She poked her head out of the door frame to call for another doctor sitting at a reception desk. “Saltworth! Keep an eye on your nephew and rev up the emergency paperwork. My daughter’s… going through something.”

Pearl perked up. “What’s going o- why is Steven here? Pri, this is no place for children.” She grabbed the emergency paperwork,

“I- I’m a good mother! How did this happen?” Dr. Maheswaran asked, pacing the floor. “She doesn’t have Epilepsy- what is this? Rabies?”

Doctor Saltworth, with her thin, bony nose pointed towards a pile of case files she’d read, responded with a quiet “Toxoplasmosa gondii.”

Connie snarled and writhed in the uncomfortable quarantine bed. Prianka stared at her, too scared to look Pearl in the eye. “What was that?” 

“Toxoplasmosa gondii,” Pearl repeated, this time at a volume where her colleague could hear. “It’s a virus caused by many, many factors; environmental, food related and medical. Almost half of the world has it, but there’s never really been a reason to worry.” She flipped through a handbook on the subject. “This report is barely even a pamphlet, but if I remember one thing from medical school, it’s that Gondii manipulates the decision making process and flight or fight responses in it’s victims. This? This is not what we covered in Viruses 101.”

“You mean a virus-“ Priyanka looked into the quarantine window at her daughter, tears pricking at her eyes, “-did this to my little girl? My Connie?”

Pearl seemed unphased by Connie’s groaning and shaking. “There aren’t any cures.” Her voice was a steady, monotone lull as she pulled out her gloves. “The best I can do is sedate her until we figure out what to do.”

“I suppose that’ll give us more time… But let me do it.”

“Are you sure?”

The taller of the two nodded, her thick salt-and-pepper hair bobbing. “You haven’t taken your dinner break. It’s been nine hours, you know this long without a break is against the law.” She smiled gently, trying to convince herself more than Pearl that she’d be alright. “She’s my daughter anyways, I just want to help her calm down.”

Pearl hummed in approval and took off her lab coat. “Text or call if anything else is amiss, or get my nurse.”

“Have a nice time. Things will be fine, really,” Priyanka assured, a fake smile plastered on her face. “See you in an hour.”

As Pearl left, so did the sun as it finally sank beneath the concrete horizon outside the hospital doors. Priyanka, all on her own, prepared the tranquilizer for her daughter. “When I said I wanted a daughter to take care of, God, meant chicken pox, the common cold… Please heal her. It’s in Your hands now,” she prayed as she opened the door, syringe in hand.

Poor Connie. She saw the needle and tossed the covers off her body, swatting the air to keep her mother away. She didn’t even speak- only a feral growl escaped her lips. Her hair was a mess; knotted and greasy from mud and sweat from her trip to the park with Steven, and her skin had a sickly pallor to it. No words could convey her mother’s pain as she moved in closer, grabbed her daughter’s arm, and pressed the needle against her skin.

“This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you, honey.”

Connie simply wouldn’t have it. She howled and yanked her arm away, scraping her flesh against the needle in the process. She didn’t even notice the thin gash as she bit her mother’s wrist.

“Connie! What has gotten in to you, young lady?” Dr. Maheswaran shrieked, pulling her arm free and wincing when she realized she was bleeding. Her Connie wouldn’t have hurt her on purpose, would she? “Why would you do that? Connie? Why did you bite me?” She kept asking her daughter, begging for a response. If Connie could answer, that’d mean she’d still be in there somewhere. But as Priyanka looked in to her glazed, foggy eyes, she knew the truth: Connie was gone.

When Pearl arrived at ten, close to the end of her shift, her eyelids were heavy. Tired feet scuffled along the tile to her post- but then something at quarantine made her freeze in her tracks.

Behind two sealed doors was Priyanka, lifelessly hovering over her daughter. There was a bite wound on her arm, and the site was oozing some sort of black fluid. Pearl cocked an eyebrow and knocked on the window to get her attention. 

“Dr. Maheswaran, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You need to give her the sedative. She looks awfully unstable.” 

A low groan was the only response. 

“Priyanka, would you like me to do it? I know how hard this must be for you.” Pearl’s hand rested on the doorknob. She knew something was off by the way both of them were twitching. “Pri?” She asked, still hesitating to open the door.

Dr. Maheswaran hissed and bolted for the door, throwing herself against it. Connie soon followed, and both of them slammed against the door, foaming at the mouth. Pearl was quick to lock the handle, and escape to the hallway outside the office.


End file.
